sjoca1

This question may be a bit obscure...but left me thinking>>

There is an Australian woman where I work who has married a Thai national. She has relatively easily acquired thai citizenship (foreign woman married to thai man). Her son (from first marriage) is now also in Thailand. Can he apply for Thai citizenship given that his mother is Thai and has a Thai step father? Could it be a simple case of Mother Thai...children thai? I could not find anything relating to people that were not Thai from birth and the subsequent status of their children. Anyone??!!

Sure there are advantages to having the BAW 6 cert. To begin with it is the only formal accreditation a foreigner can get in Thai. In addition, it helps heaps when applying for jobs based in Thailand (though not necessarily from Thailand).

It is an advantage to have if you want to apply for PR etc. or for many things as it is an official bit of paper which carries wait in Thailand. And of course, you know whats going on around a lot better.

All QANTAS bangkok based cabin crew (foreign) now need to get the cert if they want to remain roostered in Bangkok. Thats why I did it.

Hi, I am here as a student too, however everything was organised for me by Monash Abroad at Monash in Melbourne. Anyway, I can tell you what to do for a visa.

1. Apply to the uni you want to study at and get a course offer letter. Then take that letter and go to the Thai consulate in St Kilda Road (assuming you are from Melbourne). They do it on the spot. Its a non-imm ED visa, Pay an extra $20 and they make it a multiple entry for you;.

2.When you get to Thailand, the university will take care of getting it extended for you. It is soooooo simple and the university staff and people at immigration really are so nice. Dont believe what you read on this board.

However, my advise to you is to enroll at a uni in Aus and then go on exchange, much easier. It is not worth your while to study at a private uni here..no matter how much you like the culture or what ever!! get a grip mate...its your life you are playing with! you will find it hard to get work when you graduate and go back to Australia with a thai degree..sorry but thats the truth!

Another option is to enroll at a uni in Aus that has a campus here, that way you can still pay via HECS...check out Swinburne Uni for eg..my old undergraduate uni.

Good luck!

Mrentoul, I think you may have misunderstood my comments on speaking Thai .i.e that immigration started speaking thai once they knew I was a student here and wanting to apply for P.R To the contrary, I believe that they switched to Thai to assess to what extent I was legit and as a way to test me. I have had this experience at the airport as well. Maybe cause I have many extensions on my student visa, but I am always questioned in thai as to what uni I go to etc. I believe they would probably get suspicious, if someone especially on an ED visa couldnt speak thai. Even though there are many international programs at unis that use English as a medium, do you think immigration know this? There is a general assumption by immigaration that anyone here on a student visa is only here for learning thai anyway. Like why would a farang come to Thailand to do an MBA in English?!!! even though there are some sad cases in this category...just check out Siam university!!

This was all that I meant!!

Farang Kii Nok literally means "farang bird shit". I hear a lot of Thais referring to certain farnags this way and when I am with Thai friends I often use it myself to refer to certain farangs. There are lots of farang Kii noks who study at Sasin in fact!! (Sorry Chris!!) It kind of encompasses a few meanings such as a 'farang' back packer type .i.e a grotty looking person, out of luck, here for all the wrong reasons..a reject of his own country so to speak! But it can also be used in friendly fooling around kinda way.

I've also heard it used in the context of a farang who is "Kii niaw" stingy with money..hence kii niaw farang kii nok. The word kii can be used with a lot of adjectives.

Anyway, there are far too many "farnag kii nok" in Thailand and if someone was called this by a Thai, I suspect there would be rather apparent reasons for it!!

Since posting I have been down to Suan Plu and can confirm that there is now a category for students to apply i.e people who have studied in thailand for an extended period of time. No w.p is required for this.

Regarding thai language, immigration immediately started speaking in Thai once it was understood that I wanted to apply as a student saying in thai that if I had been a student here for the last three years it would and is expected that one can speak Thai.

According to the guy at imm I spoke to, the B. 6 cert helps a lot. I also have a diploma in applied language in Thai from RMIT Melbourne which can be used as supporting documentation.

In all, after the talk and the information I was given, I find it hard to believe some of the posts regarding immigration. I think on the whole, they are pretty good but have to deal with a lot of farang Kii Nok.

Hi, two questions that maybe someone has info on: esp DR P:

Next month I will renew my non-immigrant ED student visa for the third consecutive time in three years i.e now renewed each year for three years. I was wondering if this qualifies me to apply for a permenant resident visa? In addition, I have the government Bo Hok certificate in Thai. Some people tell me that this greatly facilitates non-immigrant visa applications, even more than being married. I am not sure if this is because I have the certificate or the fact that I can speak fluent Thai? !! I am a 25 yr old Australian and currently study at Chula.

Secondly, has any one heard about the new regulations for Australian passport holders under the FTA which is to be ratified in June? Apparently all Aussies, whether business people or teachers, students etc can use the express visa centre, will need less documentation than other nationalities when applying for work permits etc and can apply for a work permit at the thai embassy in Canberra before going to Thailand. This is on the DFAT website. Sounds to good to be true or what?

Hi, two questions that maybe someone has info on:

Next month I will renew my non-immigrant ED student visa for the third consecutive time in three years i.e now renewed each year for three years. I was wondering if this qualifies me to apply for a permenant resident visa? In addition, I have the government Bo Hok certificate in Thai. Some people tell me that this greatly facilitates non-immigrant visa applications. I am not sure if this is because I have the certificate or the fact that I can speak fluent Thai? !! I am a 25 yr old Australian and currently study at Chula.

Secondly, has any one heard about the new regulations for Australian passport holders under the FTA which is to be ratified in June? Apparently all Aussies, whether business people or teachers, students etc can use the express visa centre, will need less documentation than other nationalities when applying for work permits etc and can apply for a work permit at the thai embassy in Canberra before going to Thailand. This is on the DFAT website. Sounds to good to be true or what?